


The Kid

by siren_of_the_ocean



Series: Tim the terrifying [2]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: BAMF Tim Drake, Gen, Tim Drake Angst, Tim Drake is a cryptid, Tim Drake-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-17 18:47:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28979121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/siren_of_the_ocean/pseuds/siren_of_the_ocean
Summary: Almost all of the kids from crime alley have a story about him.The kid. The Kid with the camera and the wicked smile. The kid that seems to appear and disappear at will and leaves no footsteps.Buzzfeed Unsolved make a video about it and Tim just can't help but laugh.
Relationships: Tim Drake & The children of Crime Alley
Series: Tim the terrifying [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2125575
Comments: 26
Kudos: 433





	The Kid

“Woah kid. You can’t move those” Joe says from next to Alex, grabbing their hand. Alex doesn’t waste time to yank their hand back from Joe’s grip, snarling at him “It’s a camera lens, Joe. Do you have any idea how much this is worth? It could buy me dinner for the next few weeks!”  
“Yeah. It could. But it won’t” Joe says simply as he slowly, carefully moves the camera lens back into place. 

Surrounding the camera lens are a few other disjointed items. A candy bar wrapper, a broken watch and a Robin keychain. Set up like a tiny shrine. 

“What’s it for?” Alex asks as they stand up, slowly and keeping their eye on the shrine warily.  
“A kid. Used to come around a lot. Wasn’t a street kid though” Joe says, wiping some imaginary dust from the keychain.  
“Why would a kid come here if they aren’t a street kid?” Alex asks, sounding more curious now.  
“Well. Nobody’s even sure the kid was real. Appeared one moment, gone the next. Nobody saw them until they were right in front of them. Used to carry a big old camera around. Nobody robbed them though. Were too scared to” Joe explains slowly, sitting down next to the decrepit shrine and motioning for Alex to do the same. 

“Scared?”

“Yeah. Kid was weird. Like scary weird. I even got to meet them one time”  
“It was late. Well into winter so most of the street kids were staying up, trying to keep warm. Kid just suddenly came into view. Big ol’ jacket and camera, dressed in black. I’d heard of him from some of the older street kids. Called him the Kid. Older kids called him a story. Younger kids called him a ghost.  
He just appeared in front of me. No sound, no warning, nothing. Just there. And I was camping out on one of the fire escapes on the wrong side of crime alley. Kid couldn’t have gotten up there without making a sound. And yet, there he was. Just standing in front of me.  
I couldn’t see his face. But I could see the smile he gave me. White teeth like Killer Croc.  
Then, the kid just dropped $5 in my lap and then he was gone without a sound. Reminded me of when Batman does it. But the kid was just gone” Joe tells Alex, sighing as he leans his head down against the brick of the wall on his side. 

“No way. No way that’s real” Alex challenges, fire in their eyes as they stare suspiciously between Joe and the lens.  
“Go ahead. Ask some of the older kids from around here. Almost all of em have a story like that”  
“And what’s to say they weren’t hallucinating?”  
“The money. Kid sometimes left food like candy bars or protein bars. The lens. Kids say he left it behind one night when he vanished”

“And you believe this?” Alex asks incredulously as they stare at their friend. Joe just smiles and gives her a nod.  
“Kid did a lot of good around here. A lot of the kids wouldn’t be alive today if it weren’t for him. A blanket appearing when you fell asleep in the cold and would most likely die of hypothermia? A bar dropping from a nearby rooftop with no-one on it? Sometimes even personal things I know one girl who woke up from fear gas to a picture in front of her. A picture of her family before they were killed”  
“And you think that was all the Kid? Not the Bats?”  
“Nah. The bats didn’t come around here back then. Only started coming around when the second Robin hit the scene. Before that, Batman avoided this area just like everyone else”

Alex snorts again, disinterested “Yeah. So what. It was a kid with a camera. What’s so important about it?”  
“That kid” Joe starts, angry now as he sits up straight “helped a lot of people. Was there for a lot of kids. Saved so many of us” he says before sighing, looking calmer when Alex nods “And nobody actually thinks it was just a kid with a camera.  
Kid just seemed to appear whenever. No footsteps. No sound. Nothing.  
Not to mention the fact that the kid was translucent. No colour at all. Looked dead”. At that, Alex supresses a snort, drawing Joe’s glare again before he continues.  
“Kid disappeared straight after too. Couple of kids tried to follow him but couldn’t. Said he disappeared. Thought he might be a meta”

“What do you think?” Alex asks curiously as she stares at the lens, now a bit more contemplative.  
“Me?” Joe lets out a strained laugh, looking sad. “I think these streets have plenty of deaths to its name. It is called Crime Alley after all. And Gotham? Well more than a couple of people have said that it’s cursed. If a few people get lost in it? I don’t think it would be abnormal for some things to stay behind”

Alex falters again, looking sad at the thought of yet another dead kid on the streets of Crime Alley.  
“I mean, we have aliens. Magicians. Speedsters. And I hear some British guy deals with ghosts fairly often. It wouldn’t be too weird” Joe concludes, starting to stand as he holds out a hand for Alex’s. 

Alex rises on their own, looking down at the camera lens again, they swear they can see a reflection of a white smile in the shadows. 

Xxxxxxxx  
“This week on Buzzfeed unsolved, we look into the case of The Kid from Crime Alley, Gotham. Who vanished like a ghost” Ryan’s voice starts as the video unfolds, showing Ryan and Shane sitting behind their desk.  
“Gotham?” Shane asks incredulously.  
“Yeah, Gotham” Ryan answers a second later.  
“Ghost?” Shane asks again, with more inflection.  
“Like a ghost, yeah. Now let me get into it” Ryan says, flipping open the folder.

“The first sighting of The Kid was supposedly on 24 September 2009. One of the kids living in Crime alley said they saw a kid with an expensive camera around their neck, dressed in all black. ‘They made no sound when they walked. No footprints were left behind. When they saw me, they smiled, and it was the only thing I could see. Then, they left some protein bars on the floor and vanished’”  
“Oh come on!” Shane complains  
“What?”  
“Kids don’t just vanish, Ryan”  
“Well this one did, Shane”

“Anyway. The sightings continued for years with the same description and features. A kid on black clothes and a camera, who seemed to appear out of thin air and vanish again. Most of the times, the sightings went along with physical things being left behind for the kids. Like food, water, snacks, blankets, even personal items.  
One kid even found a camera lens when the kid disappeared. 

Then one day. The kid stopped appearing. Just out of the blue. Gone. No more visits, no more stuff. No more sightings.  
The last sighting was on 11 March 2013, when one child spotted The Kid on a rooftop, overlooking Crime alley. They said that he appeared to be searching for something. 

The police ignored the reports of The Kid for years, but eventually, the number of sightings led them to calling Child protective services to find the kid. They found nothing. The adults from crime alley even began to send reports to the justice league in the hope that Zatanna or Constantine would be sent to lay the Kid to rest. Nothing ever came of it.” Ryan continued  
“Yeah cause that isn’t what the league does” Shane interrupts.  
“Maybe if they had actually investigated, we wouldn’t be discussing a possibly missing, possibly dead child. Maybe a ghost. Right now” Ryan says instead. 

“There was never any footage caught of the Kid. Any area that the sightings were reported from all had corrupted footage from the day and time of the sighting” Ryan continues as the screen shows the blurry, stripey footage of the cameras. 

“Now for the theories. The first theory is that the Kid was just that. A kid. But there have been multiple accounts of the child not leaving any footsteps or making any sound at all. And the corrupted footage itself also disabuses that theory.  
The second theory is that the Kid was simply a mass hallucination. However, the fact that there were things left behind from The Kid, as well as the footage also makes this unlikely.  
The third theory is that the Kid was some sort of metahuman. With teleportation powers or maybe control over shadows. The vanishing seems to actually support this theory but there is insufficient evidence to prove that this is true.  
The last theory. Is that the Kid is a former street kid or maybe resident. Who died in Crime Alley like so many others and simply. Did not move on” 

“The metahuman theory makes so much more sense” Shane says, interrupting the suspenseful music and causing Ryan to curse. 

“But whoever The Kid is or was, the children of Crime Alley seem to remember. And the case remains. Unsolved”  
Xxxxxxx

Smiling, Tim pauses the video as he breathes deeply. 

Maybe he should show up again. Just to check in on the kids. But. It would probably be better if he does it as Red Robin, since people seem to assume that he’s dead.


End file.
